Guest guest Posted June 13, 2010 Report Share Posted June 13, 2010 > Liz, your story is amazing and so beyond anything in my experience. It is an amazing school district ... they also freely give special ed services to kids who you would never even think remotely qualify for it. > In what region is this school district? > Is the school to which you are referring public or private? > Is the overall area served by this district more affluent than > surrounding communities? We're in suburban Boston, and this is the public school district in our town. But our town is not a " typical American town " ... we're known as the suburb Harvard and MIT professors move to to rear their kids in the suburbs. We also have a very high per capita rate of Nobel laureates ... and I think Spectrum runs higher in this group than in many others. [My husband is a PhD in Engineering, working in a MIT-associated lab -- just a typical town citizen.] Parents are also very involved in education here, and quite willing to step in and advocate for their kids. I've heard from teacher friends in the area (not my town) that our district is a hard one to teach in, as teachers' actions are seriously questioned by parents -- many of whom know more than the teachers! We moved here on a bit of luck ... originally we were planning to live further out in the 'burbs, but then DH commuted in to deepest Cambridge for a week -- and decided we *must* live closer in. I'd heard rumors of how good the schools were, so we looked here first ... and bought the first house we looked at. [it wasn't perfect, we knew we'd have to remodel it, and have done so.] > Is " Ocelot " your daughter's real given name? No. I belong to several public (anyone can join) e-lists for parents of gifted kids, and got in the habit of using pseudonyms there. That's also why I don't mention my town name on list, though I'll share with anyone privately, especially if they have a good reason to know. > Just trying to understand, that's all. It all sounds almost too good to > be true. What lucky kids they are indeed. We are incredibly lucky to live in " Spectrum City " --Liz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2010 Report Share Posted June 13, 2010 Lorelie: If you send me your snail addy I will send you my copy tomorrow. I have a weeks break till my summer term starts on the 21st and have to run some errands tomorrow. I love the concept and think it is more than doable. You get two kids from the alpha group to walk side by side of the victim and just talk or listen to them. That is all they have to do. Both sides win. The victim gets to talk about their special subject and the alpha group gets to see how bright they really are. The victim also gets to practice social skills an gain friends that he might of never had. It can be a positive experience for both sides. What I hesitate about is how she recommends doing this in our climate and economy. You need a lead teacher to co-ordinate the program that takes time and I am not sure how many administrators in today's economy will relieve that teacher of all additional responsibility to oversee this one program, but you never know till you ask. If it was me? I would recommend this to the IEP team and if I had buy it, would design it around my kid and needs and see how we could best implement it. I think it is a great idea as like you and the book state, teachers and administrator's often turn a blind eye and think it is a right of passage. <sigh> Just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 14, 2010 Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 Newland wrote: << I love the concept and think it is more than doable. You get two kids from the alpha group to walk side by side of the victim and just talk or listen to them. That is all they have to do. Both sides win. The victim gets to talk about their special subject and the alpha group gets to see how bright they really are. The victim also gets to practice social skills an gain friends that he might of never had. It can be a positive experience for both sides. >> I agree that it's doable, . My only concern is whether the kids from the alpha group are well chosen by the adults. If not, I can imagine several situations where the addition of these alpha kids could potentially make a bad situation even more traumatic for the victim. Bullying can be very subtle, and adults aren't always the best judges of what kids are really up to in the hallways. << What I hesitate about is how she recommends doing this in our climate and economy. You need a lead teacher to co-ordinate the program that takes time and I am not sure how many administrators in today's economy will relieve that teacher of all additional responsibility to oversee this one program, but you never know till you ask. >> That is why I was so bowled-over by the story Liz shared about her school district. In more typical districts in this climate and economy, exactly where will all these resources come from to implement such a buddy system? I vote that we all move to Liz's neighborhood and volunteer in her district. Best, ~CJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ " The reason so many people misunderstand so many issues is not that these issues are so complex, but that people do not want a factual or analytical explanation that leaves them emotionally unsatisfied. They want villains to hate and heroes to cheer -- and they don't want explanations that do not give them that. " ~~ Sowell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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